It has become a tradition to publish reflections after NCTM’s Annual Meeting from attendees who forward their thoughts to share with readers.
Many thanks to all contributors! Ed.
The NCTM Annual Meeting is a "math curse"! As a first-timer, I was overwhelmed by the number of incredible sessions to attend. I found myself wondering how many sessions were offered per day? How many per hour? How many steps from the Peabody Hotel to the Convention Center?
Walking into the opening session was another problem. Looking at all the chairs, I wondered how many people in a row? How many in a column? What was the probability of finding five seats together for me and my colleagues from Albuquerque? Luckily, we found some seats before I could think of any other questions.
Once I selected sessions, things got easier for me. I went through each day on a cloud of mathematical inspiration. I felt like a giddy teenager when I attended Marilyn Burns’ session and later when I saw Susan Jo Russell at the ExxonMobil Foundation’s reception. The NCTM Annual Meeting provided me with countless opportunities to learn strategies and share ideas.
On Saturday, I realized that I had walked from the Convention Center to the Radisson and Peabody four times, to the Rosen Centre twice, and to Rosen Plaza once by mistake. All told, I attended fourteen sessions in the three days and spent about an hour in the exhibit hall. I had pages of notes and ideas to take back to my classroom, my school and my district. I feel very grateful to ExxonMobil for the chance to attend my first NCTM conference and look forward to being "cursed" again!
This is a report on Session 198, "Do You Teach Hispanic Students? Come Share Your Experiences." It was organized by the NCTM Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee.
This session was not a presentation; it was described in the program as a dialogue among those attending. I had mixed emotions about attending because of memories of my student days, my own struggle to learn English and to fit into a group of other young people whose culture and language I did not understand. But I wanted to learn from others.
The audience included many teachers who taught mathematics to ESL students, mostly to Hispanic children. Some teachers were Hispanic, many were not. Some of their comments included the following:
As I review my own list above I realize that this is true of all teachers, parents and students. How powerful! It reaffirms the NCTM vision that we must open the doors of mathematics to all students.
There is a problem with language and with words in mathematics and English. The problem is more acute for second language students but most children have difficulty with the words used in mathematics class that may mean something else in another class or in everyday English. This is the focus of my work at the present time: reading, writing, reasoning with problems in words! The session gave me additional motivation to keep trying new and not-so-new ideas.
I look forward to other opportunities to learn more from such open dialogues at conferences. This session informed and brought people together. At the end of the session, the committee invited participants to a social event in the evening where we continued the dialogue.
While I have had the good fortune to attend several conferences in my career as a teacher, elementary principal and staff development director, this was my first opportunity to attend the NCTM Annual Meeting. The sheer size of the conference in terms of available sessions and the number of participants was overwhelming, but two themes emerged that focused my thinking.
The first theme was the power of
examining student work as a professional development activity for
teachers. As we have been working to plan this type of
professional development experience for teachers in our district,
it was very helpful to hear so many people talking about that
concept and to hear Dr. Margaret Smith’s presentation.
Dr. Smith modeled situating teacher’s professional development in practice. She had the room fully engaged in the examination of student work. In fact, it became a real struggle for Dr. Smith to move the group away from this examination, as the participants wanted to continue discussing the thinking behind the student’s responses. Her presentation framed a process that we could replicate and facilitate with our teachers in Mount Vernon.
The second theme, which was so powerfully and gracefully articulated by Lee Stiff, is the need for our relentless efforts to close the achievement gap in our schools by providing access for all students to the full spectrum of standards-based mathematics and to high quality instruction. His motivational speech caused me to think again about places within my circle of influence where I can further our efforts to attend to this paramount need.
Interestingly enough, reflecting upon this theme took me back the idea of teachers examining student work. If we take the time to consider and understand individual student thinking, creating thoughtful opportunities where we can question, encourage and celebrate their work, we will be moving toward the goal of providing high quality instruction covering the full spectrum of standards-based mathematics.
Often we get so involved in the work we are doing in our own school system that we forget that we are part of a much bigger picture. As each of us does our own small part, the math reform movement is strengthened. I felt that at this year’s NCTM conference in a big way. Just to know that there are so many others out there trying to implement change was really exciting.
As a math coach from the Boston Public Schools, it was also exciting to be offered the opportunity to meet with coaches from the Houston Public Schools to talk and to share "coaching experiences."
It’s that whole-part relationship again!
Group Reflection, Houston,
TXIn a meeting with Lance Menster, K-5 math specialists Christina Jordan, Gayle Moore, Linda Ohia and Iris Wilkins-Blay wrote this contribution as a group. Ed.
As ExxonMobil/Houston Annenberg K-5 math specialists, this was our first time to attend the NCTM conference as a group. The experience put us in a learning environment with enthusiastic and passionate math educators from across the nation. The conference offered us meaningful opportunities for professional development, camaraderie, and networking with friends and colleagues from other cities.
The highlight of our excursion was a meeting of the minds with the Boston Math Coaches. This network meeting afforded us the chance to do some math together, dialogue and discuss our daily interactions with teachers, and to share triumphs and obstacles related to our work as Math Specialists.
One culminating event at the conference was the social gathering sponsored by the ExxonMobil Foundation. The gathering provided us with the opportunity to engage in conversation with other reform-minded math leaders doing similar work.
We feel fortunate to have had this opportunity and give special thanks to the ExxonMobil and Houston Annenberg Foundations for sponsoring this experience in Orlando.
My focus for choosing sessions this year was on helping teachers implement reform curricula and on helping me think more deeply about how young children construct mathematics. The sessions offered were great, and there were many that met my interests at each of the time slots. I didn’t choose a bad session. I apologize that I can’t give the exact titles for the sessions I attended. Because of very limited luggage space, I pitched my program book before I left Orlando.
A team of teachers from Maryland presented the first session I attended. They shared their experiences in working with a program called "Math Recovery." The program seems to mirror the "Reading Recovery" program in that it has been developed as an individual one-on-one experience. The teachers also shared how they have used the program and strategies in a whole-class setting. "Math Recovery" looks interesting and it seems to use protocols that are in line with the experiences students would have in the reform curriculum, especially in Investigations of Number, Data and Space. A copy of the handout should be available from Chris Horne by e-mailing him at Chris-Horne@co.fredrick.md.us,
The focus of the second session I attended was on professional development for teachers implementing reform curricula. In this session, the presenters shared a video clip from "Private Universe." The presenters also engaged us in an activity from the professional development materials, which are part of the Annenberg/CPB Math and Science Collection. For additional information about the Annenberg materials, go to www.learner.org/channel.
I also attended the assessment session for the new assessment books for Investigations. Karen Economopoulos presented this session, which gave the rationale for the development of the book as well as pointed out the opportunities the authors took to clarify what teachers should be looking for in each of the assessments. The important issues that Karen stressed, from my point of view, are these: That assessment is on going and is not something you do only at the end of a unit. Correct answers are important and should be a criterion that teachers look for when evaluating a student’s progress. The assessment materials also provide an opportunity for teachers to reflect upon the efficiency of a used strategy. "Tallying" is not an efficient strategy for figuring out a double-digit division problem.
I also had an opportunity to attend sessions by Doug Clements, Grayson Wheatley and Paul Trafton. These sessions focused on looking at the power of children’s thinking as they construct mathematics. Doug’s session focused on the sharing of the outcomes from the early childhood conference he hosted in the last couple of years. The first part of the book that will be published as a product of the work of the early childhood conference can be downloaded or browsed at www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/conference/index.htm. This is exciting work.
Grayson Wheatley and Anne Reynolds shared their work, which focuses on the development of number and spatial visualization. Readers may want to take a look at Grayson and Anne’s new book Coming To Know Number: A Mathematical Resource for Elementary Teachers. I was familiar with their book and it was great to be able to hear Anne and Grayson talk about their thoughts and rationale for the activities in the book.
Paul Trafton’s session was, as always, informative and upbeat. He shared the work of teachers primarily in Iowa and Missouri. I always go away from Paul’s sessions understanding a little more than I did before. Paul has a wonderful way in which he organizes the examples of student work. The down to earth way in which Paul talks about the power of children’s thinking help participants leave his session with ideas to try and most of all with a renewed interest in making a difference.
Melissa Gotard, Damascus,
MDI have attended several NCTM conferences and have always come away from them with many new, exciting ideas. This one was no different. As a first-time presenter at the national conference, I can say it was a wonderful professional experience! When I sent my proposal in, I never dreamed I would be selected. I would encourage anyone who wants to share some engaging, unique math ideas and activities, to put in to speak. It is very gratifying to have participants approach you after the session and share how much they appreciate your ideas and how much information they gained from the session.
On another note, the Exxon-Mobil Reception on Thursday evening was an incredible treat! Representatives from Exxon-Mobil were excellent hosts. They made a great effort to circulate and meet different teachers and administrators in attendance. And there was delicious, lavish food!
Melissa presented an engaging session that introduced unique, effective ways to enrich mathematics for G/T students. I know it was good—I was there! Ed.
When we got to Orlando on Wednesday, we dropped off our suitcases at the hotel and hurried over to the Convention Center for the Opening Session. Thursday and Friday went by very quickly as I tried to fit in as many sessions as possible and also time to view the Exhibit Hall. It was wonderful to go to so many exciting, informative and worthwhile workshops. The hardest aspect of the conference was to pick only one workshop for a particular time. Often, there were four workshops that I wanted to go to at the same time!
Attending this conference has been great for my professional development. As I saw the other teachers from our group, we shared the information from the sessions that interested us. It is so important to keep learning about the new aspects in teaching math, especially since NCTM released the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics a year ago.
Many teachers believe in being "life-long learners." My ExxonMobil Math Study Group at Hawthorne wanted to find out about the NCTM conference, so I have planned a mini-workshop for my group and have invited all of the other teachers who would like to attend, too. Teachers are always looking for new and innovative ways to teach different concepts in math.
It was also worthwhile viewing the Exhibit Hall. It was a great opportunity to find out about new programs, lessons and materials.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to go.
I cannot tell you how much it meant to me that ExxonMobil honored us in such an elegant way in Orlando. As teachers, we are rarely treated so well or praised and thanked so highly. Thank you for inspiring us to continue to grow and to share! Your words and all that went into the gathering are so appreciated!
The annual conference is always like a rebirth. Those of us who truly love math and teaching math come together to share, ponder and celebrate. The sessions were wonderful! The exhibits filled with many new and valuable resources. The conversations with others struggling to help our students grow, learn and become confident in their understanding of mathematics was probably the most valuable treasure of all. We shared ideas, successes and struggles. We brainstormed, praised and questioned. Of course the weather wasn’t too shabby either!
We are so very lucky to have an organization like NCTM to lead us in the challenge that is our daily effort. No other content area in education has such leadership, such vision, and such organization. And then we have ExxonMobil inspiring us to continue to grow! Thank you.
Among my fondest memories of this wonderful conference is the ExxonMobil reception. It felt so good to be there among my dear friends and ardent supporters. It felt like being home. I was and am still so grateful for all that has been made possible for me. I appreciated the chance to say "thank you" and to encourage all of you to find out whether or not you are qualified to run for the NCTM Board of Directors. Let’s get a bunch of ExxonMobil teachers on!
It was also a joy to spend some time with Miriam Leiva at the Professional Development Academy. I was with the preK-2 group with Mari Muri and Nora Miller. They were wonderful. One teacher I worked with said she really enjoyed the Academy and found it different from other professional workshops she’d attended. She particularly appreciated the emphasis on the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. My group worked with stem and leaf plots and it wasn’t easy! We were having so much fun, though, they videotaped us for possible use on-line with PBS later.
Constance Kamii’s presentation on subtraction with young children was most useful and thought provoking. She says subtraction isn’t easily understood and really depends on a strong understanding of addition. She encourages us to work with young children with subtraction in context—especially missing addend type problems. This came at a perfect time for me and reminded me I still have plenty of work to do at home with my kids before school ends for us in a few weeks.
Readers will recall that Cindy Chapman was elected to the NCTM Board of Directors last fall to serve a three-year term that began this April (Please see Intersection, Nov/Dec 2000). Ed
I went to NCTM knowing that I could learn, share, and become more aware of my journey to understand and teach math in ways that are meaningful. As a teacher, I need to experience the perspectives in teaching and learning that are explored by children in the classroom. I found many wonderful opportunities to talk with colleagues and others who have experiences to offer in this ongoing process of reflection and action in learning mathematics and supporting professional development in teachers’ classrooms. I was looking for direction in the sessions that shared coaches’ and teacher-leaders’ ideas.
Of particular interest to me was a session on coaching by the team from Boston. Team members spoke of their district goals and their math team’s plans to bring math professional development to the teachers. Their research involved reflectively writing, studying and talking together as instructional leaders navigating through the processes of learning and teaching. Because of the complex nature of coaching, one is reminded of the requirement to make important decisions in the moment. The negotiation and decisions are built on coaches’, teachers’ and students’ thoughts. These decisions are also based on common visions and on experience and leadership skills, as were evident in the presenters. I am very interested in their work as they share their experiences, knowledge, and practices through journal-writing and NCTM sessions that provide ideas and direction for others embarking on this journey.